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and Crown 



diMJ^' 



THE 



CROSS 



^^ isr 33 



CROWN 



O 



4 



BY T. D. (ZURTIS 



Evil is wrought 
From want of thought 
As well as want of heart.— [Hood. 



SYRACrSE, N. Y. 
Far.mek axd Dairyman Piti.vi 

1880. 




7 



Copy RIGHTED 



THE AUTHOR. 

1886. 



frolo&tje:. 



He wlio oftends the public will 

And thus excites the populace 
With a vindictive wish to kill 

And sink his name in deep disgrace, 
Is hung or burned in effigy ; 

But none would think of worshiping 
The instrument of cruelty 

That should a friend's sad exit bring; 
Yet when the Christ was crucified, 

By order of the crazy throng, 
The bloody cross on which he died — 

The tool of deep and ghastly wrong — 
Derisively was raised on high, 

By the decree of hell's dark prince, 
And human souls, not thinking why, 

Hell's sign have worshiped ever since 
Could more complete subversion be 
Of reason, taste and decency ? 

II. 
Through all the past historic daj-s. 
Tyrants have gloried in the crown ; 



PROLOGUE. 



And base and bloody are the ways 

By which men have been trampled down. 
That royalty may thrive and tax 

The toilers for its vain support; 
Cities and towns it often saci^s, 

And of men's birthrights makes a sport ; 
Yet men submit to the command 

Of him who wears a crown, and join 
Oppression's hosts, on sea and land, 

As loyal subjects, or for coin ; 
And so delusive is the glare 

Of crowns to the deluded slave 
That he lifts up an earnest prayer 

To wear a crown beyond the grave, 
And in imagination reigns 
O'er souls submissive to his chains! 



^^^*^ 



.'e^J*^^ 



The CrQ00 

and Crown 



THE CROSS. 



Emblem of Ignorance and Cruelt3% 
Ensign of Superstition's brutal reign. 
Banner of Despotism's foul career, 
Signal of Reason laid upon its bier, 
Image of dark and gross Idolatry, 
Object of worship since the Christ was slain! 

The sign of the impostor and the fool, 

B}' which they conquer and command the throng, 
The cross is lifted upward everywhere 
Man will submissive bow and mutter prayer, 
The minion meek, or church's thoughtless tool. 
Or worse, the cunning priest wdio knows the 

[wrong. 
When Satan tempted Christ upon the Mount, 
He said : "But worship me, the world is thine!" 



THE CROSS AND CROWN. 



But Christ refused the service and reward, 
And said: "Get thee behind; worship thy 
And thus called Satan to a quick account, [Lord l\ 
For his attempt to humble the divine. 

Christ taught no worship and believed in none; 
His teaching was of equal Brotherhood ; 
But, if there must be worship, it was meet 
That he who claimed it should bow at the feet 
Of him of whom 'twas claimed; the evil one 
So claiming should bow down before the good. 

Christ did not ask for worship, nor it seek ; 
This he abhorred in every form and phase; 
He was resolved to ever upright stand ; 
'Twas to rebuke he gave that stern command ; 
And he who claims the homage of the weak 
His low condition to the wise betrays. 

Satan still tempts all greedy human kind 
With his rewards of selfishness and lust; 
He would their minds in superstition steep. 
And mercilessly every soul would keep 
Forever to the lower realms confined. 
Where all is turned to ashes and to dust. 

Oh ! wiiat a world of malice Christ awoke 
In Satan when he bade him "get behind !" 
Then all the fury of the fiends of hell 
Around his earthly way exhaled their spell ; 



THE CROSS. 



Beset by every snare hell could evoke, 
He suffered hellish tortures of the mind. 

He lived alone; he was not understood [taught; 
By those with whom he most communed and 
His sole support was love and faith in truth 
And principles he'd pondered from his youth ; 
He saw rii^ht living and the doing good 

Must bring a future life witli gladness fraught. 

But hell would not consent to tolerate 
The presence here on earth of one who chose 
To be so independent of its sway ; 
It would not do to longer let him stay, 
And so the vicious tools of hell and hate 

Were set to work his teachings here to close. 

He long had seen or guessed how it would end ; 
But faith in principle in him was strong, 

And he would not consent to change his course 
Nor to retract, nor turn to such resource 
As would the purpose of his foes unbend. 
And thus his labors on the earth prolong. 

But he resolved to carry on the fight 

Beyond the grave, and to contend for power 
And freedom to reject the homage base 
Which Satan claimed, and meet him face to 
In his own realms of cruelty and night, [face 

And try his title there to freedom's dower. 



THE CROSS AND CROWN 



It was a faith sublime that thus could nerve 
The Nazarene to face the death they chose ; 
But patiently he met his fate alone, 
Without complaint, and scarcely gave a groan, 
So sure was he that Freedom he could serve 
And in the end could conquer all his foes. 

It was not long before the end was reached, 
So far as earth could end his gra"nd career; 
His body lifeless hung upon the cross; 
Yet still his deadly foes were at a loss 
How to annul the doctrines he had preached 
Lest they forever should torment them here. 

So they resolved upon a double course — 
They would pervert what they could not destroy ; 
Their earthly agents were induced to choose 
The bloody cross as symbol of their views, 
Which they proclaimed were Christ's, and were 
the source 
Of all iheir power^His name made a decoy. 

The banner of the cross they raised aloft. 
To conquer by this sign of all that's vile; 
"Christians" they called themselves, and tiends 

in glee 
>Iust have rejoiced their bloody course to see. 
As with brute force, or threats, or pleadings soft. 
They coupled hell's dark doings with its guile. 



THE CROSS. 



To blind belief they added blinder faith, 
And relegated reason to the shades; 
Dark superstition ruled the bloody hour, 
The3vorld bowed down before religion's pow'r 
And truthfully the page of history saith 
Mankind gave up to riots and to raids. 

It was a very pandemonium here, 

A hell on earth, a night without a star; 

Good manners and good morals passed awa} , 
Corruption and pollution ruled the day, 
And Pity left the earth without a tear, 

While pallid Justice trembling stood afar. 

Contending sects and creeds each other tore ; 
A word or syllable gave cause for war, 
And e'en a single letter made men tear 
Each other and profane the decent air 
With angry words, and drench their hands in gore, 
Performing all that Heaven must abhor. 

Men lost all reason, women lost all shame. 
And gross indecency ruled day and night; 
Fortunes were given to the rotten priests, 
Who rated virtue lower than the beasts; 
Pollution of the maiden or the dame 
Alike was holy in the priestly sight. 

At tirst, it was a struggle mild between 
The pagan doctrines and the newer creeds, 

2 



THE CROSS AND CROWX 



Whose crazy devotees quite often sought 
The crown of martyrdom, and therefore 
Insultingly to taunl and rouse the spleen [wrought 
Tiiat oft in furious wrath its victim bleeds. 

But paganism was a placid rill 

Beside the roaring torrent of the new 
And wild religion that its ruin sought; 
And most of all its cruelty was taught 
Unto it by the men of bloody will 

Who did tlie work of the infernal crew. • 

When Satan's agents found no pagan foe, 
They tore each other with tenfold delight; 
There was no ejiithet too harsh to use, 
There was no instrument of brute abuse 
Severe enougli to add unto the woe 
Of brothers now grown hateful in their sight. 

Such scenes the world had never known before, 
So fierce did angry jiassion's billows toss; [ray 
Hell seemed let loose, and scarce a Heavenly 
Shone in the hearts of men to light the way ; 
All virtue gone, or rotten to the core. 

O'er all there rose the dark and blood}' cross. 

But brutal passion cannot always rule; 
Reaction comes with renovating sway; 
The violence that may at first su^.ceed 
Quite soon returns to make' its VTrr t-mt^^ b leed ; 



THE CROSS. 



Coercion is a sharp and treacherous tool — 
A tvvo-ed.i^ed sword that cutteth either way. 

For centuries the nations struggled on, 

WJiile reason scarcely gave a glimmering ray; 
Tlie rack, the faggot, and anon the sword, 
Each played its part to teach the " Holy 
While hated Science, pallid, weary, wan, [Word;" 
Amid the hosts of darkness skulked away. 

Not idle was the Xazarene the while; 
He marshaled on the other side of life 
The hosts of gentle truth and reason mild, 
Swaying with love the heart of man and child 
To long for freedom and the rights that guile 
Had trampled down amid intolerant strife. 

The work was one of love, the progress slow, 

For hell contended every inch of ground, [thing 

And, through the church, assaulted every 

That wrought for good, and cat-like watched 

Upon whoever rose to strike a blow [to spring 

To break the chains with which men's souls 

[were bound. 
Bearing the cross before them, hell's dark crowd 
Rushed wildly on to crush each rising thought 
That in the freedom-laving soul sought vent 
In deed of daring, or, in speech intent 
On firing other minds, was heard aloud ; 
In fear and hate the hosts of fiuy wrought. 



THE CROSS AND CROWN. 



Christ poured his consolation in the ear 
Of every suffering soul, and fired the heart 
To meet with resignation calm the tale 
Imposed upon it by the powers of hate; 
And every bod}' slain let loose, to cliccr, 
A spirit nerved to play a noble pari. 

Thus, one by one, upon the spirit side. 
An army gathered that defied defeat; 
It filled with love of freedom every mind 
Of willing mould on earth that it could find. 
Till right of private judgment, long denied. 
Walked lH)ldly forth from its enforced retreat. 

Then history and science both combineil 
To shed their light and make the error plain ; 
And one l)y one the church was forced to yield 
The subjugated ground which it had sealed 
With blood of martyrs, till it was confined 
To work by subtle means its ends to gain. 

Now Knowledge roams at large, and he who will 
May sup from the eternal founts of truth ; 
As hell recedes, the church entVeblcd grows. 
And fast approach the last exr)iring throes; 
1 t now may curse and rave, but dare not kill. 
And views with anguish Freedom's lustv vouth 



The present chuich is a continuance 
Of the abomination that held sway 



THE CROSS. 



When Christ was on the earth ; the change it 
Was but in form, not spirit; it essayed [made 
To make the world believe that no advance 
Could e'er be made for which it did not pray. 

It fought all progress of the human race, 
And sought to limit human thought and speech ; 
Dead books or living bodies, each in turn 
It ready stood to torture or to burn ; 
It squid-like tried its slimy arms to place 
On everything of worth within its reach. 

Its claims were boundless, and its vicious aim 
W^ould subjugate all things from pole to pole; 
Whate'er of good might triumph in despite 
Of all its wiles to crush, this fiend of night 
Set up the claim that the advancement came 
Through its kind care and fostering control! 

And to this day it makes the bold pretense 
That all of human progress has been made 
Beneath its banner; yet it ever warred 
On science as a thing to be abhorred, 
And still would banish thought and. reason hence, 
And of them seeks to make mankind afraid ! 

It points to the advancement of the world 
As evidence of its benignant power ; 
Yet it has sought, with all its will and might, 
To keep the children of the earth in night ! 



THE CROSS AND CROWN 



And this same course it will pursue, till hurled 
From power, and Trutli and Justice rule tlu^ 

[hour. 

Let men no longer be deceived, fo'* hell 
Brought fortli the church and fosters it to-day; 
Let them cast off the shackles of the mind, 
Which this same church continues still to bind 
Upon them with Satanic art and spell, 
And keep, oh! keep the children from its sway! 

Thro' Mammon and the Church hell rules to-day, 
And flaunts the cruel cross before our eyes ; 
Losing its hold on State, the church demands 
All privileges which our thoughtless hands 
Will grant unto its agents, who would slay 
The Nazarene again as sacritice. 

Hell still is tempting men with wealth and power. 
And finds of Judases a fearful host; 
Free thought and speech it everywhere assails. 
Religion's sure decay loudly bewails, 
But while it reads the tokens of the hour, 
It still persists in threat and empty boast. 

It mumbles prayers in legislative halls. 
And in our courts of justice utters oaths; 
It clutches every thing within its reach, 
And hanirs tenacious as the sucking leech ; 



THE CROSS. 



Where'er we go its mockino: presence palls, 
And ever}' thinking mind its workings loathes. 

Its ministers assume superior airs, 
And claim to compensate all earthly loss; 
They help to rob the unsuspecting mass, 
And for their sorrows, with a cheek of brass, 
They give them rich rewards of empty prayers, 
And impudently point unto the cross! 

As if an instrument of torture could 

Be grateful to the sight of suffering man! 
Or he should willingly be crucified 
Because good men upon the cross have died! 
But hell adopts this horrid thing of wood 
And bears the bloody symbol in the van. 

It is a cruel mockery of all 

That Christ has taught to an unthinking world — 
A gross perversion of the living light 
With which he sought to open human sight; 
'Tis Satan's beacon, leading to enthrall — 
Banner of night, by Satan's hosts unfurled. 

All progress made has been despite the power 
That marshaled all its forces 'neath the cross ; 
The hosts of light, led on by Christ, have fought 
And slowly won the field in spite of aught 



THE CROSS AND CROWN. 



The foe beneath the symbol of the hour 
Could treacherously do to bring them loss. 

And Christ will overwhelmingly, at last, 
Defeat the hosts of darkness and of death ; 
For Truth and Justice surely will bear sway. 
To usher in the bright millennial day, 
And Satan's hosts from power on earth to cast 
And fill each longing soul with vital breath. 

But just so long as men will give support 
And countenance unto the wily church, fwratii 
They may expect the fiends of wrong and 
To scatter want and woe along their path, 
For by such act they gross injustice court 
And will that on its banner victor}^ perch. 

Let all men, then, ignore the church and strive 
For Justice, Truth, and true Fraternal Love; 
Let them resolve to be forever free. 
And walk in reason's light, so all may see 
They tread the straight and narrow path, alive 
To good and peace, as symbol ed by the dove. 

Thus may a bloodless victory be won. 
And Satan's hosts cast out forevermore ; 
The cross of hell from earth will disappear 
Before the symbol of a higher sphere ; 



THE. CROSS. 



Thus may the reign of reason be begun, 
And earth become to Heaven an open door. 

Oh ! let the scales fall from the eyes of men, 
And all the horrors of the cross appear; 
Then Satan's reign on earth will have an end 
And men no more the craven knee will bend 
But Justice, Freedom, Love, and Truth, will then 
Bring in the prophesied millennial year. 



THE Cr^OWN^. 



Symbol of all that's mean and base in man — 
Of pompous pride and cringing cowardice, 
Of titled folly and of plodding slaves, 
Of groaning labor robbed by cunning knaves. 
Of priests and lordlings, an infernal clan, 
Who live by force, and fraud, and artitice. 

The crown, associated with the cross. 
Is held up by the cliurcli as the reward 
Of souls that blindly follow in the lead 
Of priests who advocate a stupid creed ! 
"A crown of gold," and nothing else, for loss 
Of common sense, full payment can accord ! 

" No cross, no crown" — self-evidently true. 
But not in the delusive sense implied; 
If men beneath the cross would not bow down, 
No devil, pope, or king, could wear a crown ; 
But they will wear it all the ages through 
That men are willing to be crucified. 



THE CROWN. 



A crown denotes that some usurper rules, 
And subjects, weak and ignorant, submit; 
But in a realm where all are equal, free, 
No one can rule, none can submissive be; 
But hell and tyrants love to torture fools, 
And only fools will long consent to it. 

The weak in mind, abused and plundered here, 
Have silly hopes that they will all be kings. 
Because the sons of Mammon tell them so ; 
While to the yoke they bow their necks below, 
They praise a tyrant in another sphere 
Who is to crown them over underlings! 

When liell's dark agents nailed the Nazarene 
Upon the cross they, mocking, hailed him king; 
Since then the mockery they have kept up, 
And all his friends have drank the bitter cup, 
And worn the crown of thorns, and felt the keen 
Thrust of the spear, and heard the taunting fling. 

All seekers after truth, and right, and fact. 
The men of science and the thinkers bold. 

Are friends of Christ, and seek to do his work, 
By letting in the light mid darkness murk. 
That shrouds the cross and crown; but every act 
Is met by hell's dark minions, as of old. 

With faggot and the prison's loathsome cell, 
They've done their worst to stifle human th ought 



L'O THE CROSS AXD CROWX. 

And stop research amid the fields of lore, 
Their jilea that it is impious to explore 
The realms of Natui'e's secrets, or to tell 

Aught to the mass of men by priests not taught. 

Hell to the world holds up a Clod of wrath — 
Omniscient tyrant, sitting on a throne, 
Wearing a royal diadem of gold, 
While fawn around and praise him throngs 
In numbers, who by adoration halh [untold 

Secured his special favors as their own! 

All who refuse this homage are cast out 
From Heaven and happiness forvermore. 
Their souls to burn in torments without end 
Or hope that they can ever make auiend 
For harboring on earth an honest doubt, 
And failing their "creator" to adore! 

And the offense is in the disl)elief. 

For no good thoughts or deeds can help the soul ; 
Nor good intentions, or most honest aims 
Can save it from the everlasting flames; 
But blind consent alone can banish grief 

From one submissive to the priest's control I 

This God is arbitrary, full of freaks, 

Damns without reason, without worth rewards; 
An upright life with him no favor finds; 
He fettered sinners with deliiiht unbinds. 



THE CROWN. 21 

And sets them free, but on tlie upright wreaks 
His vengeance — them his special hate accords! 

To tliose who ask for bread he giveth stone, 
Or empty promises he may fulfill 

lu realms of future life — sometime, somewh ere, 
And thus the soul feeds on deceit and air 
As long as flesh hangs to the aching bone — 
Till all is sacrificed that earth can kill. 

This is no teaching of the Xazarene ; 
It is a scheme of liell to chain the mind 
And keep mankind subjected to its sway, 
And to its priests and tools an easy prey — 
A plot the souls of men to make unclean ' 
.And toward perdition willingl}- inclined. 

Who cannot see that hell set up this God 
For purpose foul, and crowned him King of All V — 
A model of the human lord and king 
Who rule below and make their subjects bring 
Homage and pelf to buy approving nod. 

While in their train the meaner creatures crawl. 

His favorites, the meanest of mankind, 
Are quite content the people should believe 
That they will win a crown beyond the grave. 
If they will only be content to slave 
And bow to robber rule, nor seek to find 
The light which might their faith here undeceive. 



22 THE CROSS AND CROWN. 



To make the picture more like oartli and real, 

As kings on earth have rivals to the throne, 

So God must have a rival dark and proud 

Who, like himself, can never fill a shroud ; 

But, tiercely overthrown in the ideal. 

This rival has no mercy to him shown. 

'Tis all infernal — a delusive spell [down ; 

Thrown o'er the minds of men to kee|) them 
In fear the Nazarene, with teachings pure. 
The mental blindness of the world should cure, 
And break the hoary reign of brutal hell. 
It mockingly presented him a crown. 

True, 'twas a crown of thorns; but, mocking still. 
It gave a spirit crown, and made him Son 
And equal of the tyrant it had made. 
And in fantastic glory had arrayed. 
To rule the saints submissive to the will 

Of those who church and state in secret run. 

Priests granted to him su])ernatural powers, 

And then assumed to wield those powers tbem- 
By treachery, and trick, and sophistry, [selves; 
They made the multitude believe that he 
Claimed worship for himself in gilded towers 
Or churches; so the mass submits and delves. 

The world is told that men should bear tlie cross 
Of robbery, oppression, want and woe. 



THE DROWN. 



On earth, that they a crown above may wear, 
And ease their souls in everlasting prayer 
Unio a God who shall repay all loss 

By si)ecial gifts to those who bow most low! 

The church has always taught submission here. 
Not to the laws of being, but of state ; 

Hell calls for "stronger governments'' to rob 
And hold in terror the uprising mob 
Which it provokes and seeks to rule thro' fear— 
A horrid rule of wrong, and force, and hate. 

As Christ's pure teachings were so true and plain 
That reason must accept them, to obscure 
Their meaning hell and earth conspired 
And made confusion, while their minions tired 
With mad ambition and the love of gain [lure. 

All'hearts that Mammon's bribes could buy or 

And with success they carried out their scheme. 
And made the world do homage unto hell ; 
With God to threaten vengeance unto all. 
And Devil to affright them at their call, 
With blood of God's own Son— a horrid stream- 
To wash men's souls, they have succeeded well ! 

To further aid their scheme, the "Holy Ghost" 
Came down to work with its mysterious spell, 
And fill with frenzy every heart and brain 
That thoughtlessly would join Delusion's train, 



24 THE CROSS AND CROWN. 

Until the fire of zeal was hot to roast 
The sinner here and endlessly in hell ! 

Christ taught utmost fulfillment of the law, 
Which special favors could not set aside ; 

His was no kingdom of this world, no scheme 
Of courtiers or of crown ; no idle dream 
Of weak and wicked selfishness, to awe 

The mass and rear a structure based on pride. 

He founded on the rock of truth and fact, 
And everlasting principles of good; 

He bade men love each other and be just 
In all their dealings, to avoid all lust. 
And be sincere and true in every act, 
llememb'ring all are of one Brotherhood. 

No lead or following of the blind he taught. 
Nor a self-immolating flag unfurled ; 
His enemies, with subtlety most keen. 
By torturing his language make it mean 
The very opposite of what he sought 
To teach unto a blind, unthinking world. 

He wanted men to use their reason here, 

In all things of this world and world to come — 

To seek for truth, for truth would make them 

Nor bend to any power known the knee ; [free, 

And he abhorred the rule of coward fear. 

That's born of hell, and strikes the reason dumb. 



J HE CEOWN 



Quickly iLe Nsztuene refused the bribe 
Proffered by Satan's liitud upon the Mount; 
He tujned indignantly from world and crown. 
Rebuking- with a stern and honest frown 
The tempter and his cunning; but the tribe 
Of Mammon since has grown beyond all count. 

If all men j-aw. like Christ, through Satan's wiles, 
And promptly gave rebuke to his demand, 

The crown would crumble and the cross decay," 
And Mammon's bribes be counted worthless 
clay; 
A world redeemed would roll in Heaven's sv^'^os, 
With plenty, j.eace and J03' on every hand. 

What shall it protit man the world to gain 
And yield his soul thereby to hell's control V 
To give is far more blest than to' receive— 
For giving to the needy doth relieve 
The giver of a surplus that would pain, 
W not bestowed, by clogging of the soul. 

We channels of transmission are; the flow 
Of life is measured by what we transmit; 
K we doth freely give, in reason's bound. 
What we receive, and pass the blessings ■/' , 
We gather strength and joy as on we go. 
Receiving more, the more the benefit. 
4 



THE CROSS AND CROVf^N. 



When men shall rise above the plane of clowns, 
And look upon this life with vision clear, 
With reason seeking for the better way 
That leads to Justice and to Freedom's sway, 
Then dupes and priests, then kings, and gods, and 
At last, will from this planet disappear, [crowns. 

To worship an imaginar}' king. 

Makes' subjects for the monarchs here on earth; 
The mind accustomed to submissive moods 
Is ready to receive the mental foods 
Which priests and parasites may choose to bring — 
Messes of potage for its rights of birth. 

Our God is light, intelligence, and love- 
Is reason, freedom, justice, and the truth; 

He does not rule through blind belief in creeds, 
But fact and judgment — good expressed in 
Of brotherly assistance, and above [deeds 

All aims to subjugate the minds of youth. 

The God of orthodoxy doth delight 

In ways of darkness, superstition, fear ; 

He bids all men their reason set aside [wide, 
xVnd take, like birds with mouths spread open 
Whatever priests, those messengers of night, 
See fit to drop into the gaping ear. 

He bids us bow to creeds and servile forms, 
And walk submissive under Mammon's reign; 



THE CROWN 



Before him all must bend the cringing knee, 
And shout his praise in fulsome minstrelsy; 
His followers no love of freedom warms; 
He rules them, all through penalty and pain. 

With ceremonies, rites, and cunning tricks. 

He seeks to captivate the human will; 

Thus far his agents have, alas! too well 

Succeeded in their wicked ^york of hell, 

Which at no subterfuge or falsehood sticks ; 

They fill their mission with Satanic skill. 

The}' claim to represent the Nazarene 

And teach his doctrines, while they grossly lie 
In word and deed, and all his views pervert ; 
Hp. aimed to help the world ; they aim to hurt ; 
His yoke is easy and his path serene, 

While w^earing theirs the soul must surely die. 

While he would have the world live out the law 
Of being as engraved in each true heart, 
And seen with vision clear by every mind 
That is to justice, truth and good inclined, 
They would subdue it, by a sense of awe. 
To arbitrary rule and selfish art. 

When men shall cease to worship w^ealth and 
might. 
And turn their backs on superstition's door; 



THE CROSS AND CROWX. 



When reason lights her laniji, and equity 
Becomes the portion of the truly free ; 
When Christ shall reign on earth through love 
and light, 
The rule of man and Mammon will l;e o'er. 

Then all machinery of Church and state 
Will drop aside as rubbish of the past; 
Then social harmony will take the place 
That human governments so much disgrace; 
The cruel reign of discord, born of hate. 
Will be reversed, and order reign at last. 

Then each will work for all instead of self, 
As faithful parents for their ciiildren toil ; 
All will be educated in the right, 
All will by birth inherit living light; 
None will from duty turn for sordid pelf, 
And none will seek his neighbor to despoil. 

And there will be abundance everywhere, 
With want and fear of want forever gone ; 
No more will men indulge in worldly lust; 
The aims of life will be above the dust; 
Then men the spirit life will seek and share. 
Their souls aglow with rays of Heaven's dawn. 

Oh! why has Christ been so misunderstood? 
Why will not men receive the light and livev 



THE CROWN. 29 

The path is straight and plain unto the view, 
And by the light within each can pursue 
And reap its fruits of everlasting good, 
Wuicli loving hands along the wa}^ will give. 

The growth is slow but sure, in strict accord 
With laws of our condition and our deeds ; 
No miracles will help us in our task; 
If we would gain advancement, we must ask 
Through honest work, and upright thought and 
word, 
And not through cross or crown, beliefs or creeds. 

Dethrone all gods and send them down to hell, 
Banish all worship to the realms of night, 

Give freedom unto human thought and speech. 
Let every soul be its own church and teach 
The truths that from its inmost depths may well 
To aid in lifting up all souls to light. 

In that bright realm where all is fair and free 
The law is written in each beating heart; 
There each one does as seems good in his 
x\nd every one aspires to do the right; [sight, 
But no one there in worship bends the knee. 
Or acts through fear a superstitious part. 

Supreme desire for concord tills each breast, 
And every word and act with love is blest; 



30 



THE CROSS AND CROWX. 



No thought of wrong or self can enter there, 
But each with each and all desires to share; 
And he that shares his blessing with the rest 
Is richer made in joy and sweet content. 

There are no rulers there— no king to frown; 
No sacrifices are requiied or made; 
A sense of right and justice rules the realm, 
With lov£ to prompt and reason at the helm ; 
Harmonious thoughts and acts all discord drown 
With none to dictate, none to make afraid. 

No royal God there sits in pomp and state; 
No jeweled throne of gold can there be seen ; 
No priest nor trembling devotee can raise 
An everlasting song of tlatt'ring praise : 
No cross, no crown ; no courtier vain, elate ; 
No slave with bending knee and cringing mien. 

No streets all paved with gold doth there appear; 
No harps of gold doth twang- an endless air; 
No trumpet-blast, bj^ saint or angel blown, 
Doth split the ear with its commanding tone; 
No worshiping of God, or saint, or seer. 

No church, no priest, no pope, no king, no prayer 

But all is love and harmony divine. 

With peace and happiness, and joy supreme; 
With endless progress and increasing light, 
- And ever-widening freedom, while the right 



THE CROWN. 



And truth, and i2:()od, and justice burn and shine 
In every brain and heart— a sacred gleam. 

Oh! blest abode, where each himself must rule 
And none e'er think of ruling others, while 
The light from higher sources e%^er beams, 
In gentle, life-invigorating streams. 
Upon the soul which, never out of school, 
Must ever bask in Wisdom's winning smile. 

Oh ! let it come, this concord of the blest. 
And speedil}', upon this earth of ours— 
That Mammon's throne may be at once o'er- 
And all his idols broken— every one ; [thrown, 
That every soul upon the law may rest. 
Defying all the arts of wicked powers. 

And it will come, must come, or soon or late, 
And every heart will feel the quickening thrill ; 
The hosts of night around the earth must fly 
To lower depths, the righteous mount on high ; 
And then will end this reign of selfish will. 
Amid the blaze of the Harmonial Day. 



•^^— 



Idolatry, 



Idolatry is born of Ignorance ; 

Its sire is Fear, and cruel are its bands; 
Cunning and Greed come forward to advance 

Its many claims; the tyrant understands 

It gives him consequence wlien he commands, 
And helps to keep his subjects dull and weak ; 

The priest upholds it with his crafty hands. 
And by it keeps himself both fat and sleek, [cheek. 
With conscience tenfold harder than his brassy 

Idolatry has human thought defiled, 

And filled the heart of man with groundleess 
It likens God unto the chieftain wild, jfear; 

Whose will is absolute and rule austere^ — 

Who scatters curses with a hand severe 
On all who do not choose to bow and praiso. 

Bestowing gifts on those who may appear 
By word or deed, or both, his power to raise. 
Regardless of their merits or their wicked ways. 



IDOLATRY. 33 



The poor idolator expects to gain 

In special favors from the god he owns; 

He mouths his pra^-ers expecting to obtain 

Some kind of blessing through his pleading tones, 
While bowing low upon his marrow-bones, 

And has no thought of principle or law ; 
He thinks his ver}^ abjectness atones 

For all offenses, and he stands in awe [j'l'^v- 

Lest he offend the priest who smites him with his 

Idolatry but feeds the soul on stones. 

And makes it fear the living and the dead; 
It worships arbitrary power in bones 

From which all power to harm or bless has fled ; 

It puts a halo round some dead man's head 
And worships him as one whose blood atones 

For all the sins the human race hath bred ; 
It fills the air with hideous w^ails and groans, 
With genuflexions that the most abjectness owns. 

The gods are many vs^hich the world adores; 

They may be stocks and stones, or creeds and 
Or saints or heroes; there are many scores [books, 

Of idols, both of good and evil looks. 

To which the idol-serving worldling crooks 
The favor-seeking hinges of the knee ; 

And then audaciously he freely brooks 
Disfavor of the many gods, that he 
May serve at Mammon's shrine and roll in luxury! 
5 



THE CROSS AND CROWS 



The known and unknown gods are set aside 
When Mammon's glittering chariot rolls along; 

The churches all adore the pomp and i)ride 

Of ^Mammon's blazing cortege; weak and strong 
Join in his train, unconscious of a wrong, 

And all the gods are chained unto his car; 
The "Unknown God" may get their Sunday song — 

On other days he's worshiped from afar! 

But, next to Mammon, men adore the god of war. 

Or saints, or books, or images, or cross, 

No matter what the object worshiped be, 
'Tis all the same — idolatrous and gross; 

It may be done in all sincerity. 

Or only done in base hypocrisy, 
As is the fancy of the worshiper; 

Both classes bend the superstitious knee, 
Hoping their god his favors w^ill confer, 
Howe'er the supplicant in life and tho't may err! 

There is no efficacy in what's done 

By way of worship; all is empty show. 

External form ; in not a single one 
Doe^ it inspire a strong desire to go 
The straight and narrow path of duty. No, 

Not e'en the most benighted devotee — 
The most sincere idolator we know — 

Conforms his daily conduct so that he 

Shall realize the prayer of his idolatry. 



ILOLATRY. 35 

All worship is an inconsistent sham — 

An ev\\o fi om the thrones of earthl}^ king-s, 
Who liave the power to either bless or damn 

Their subjects of this world in worldly things; 

It will be fostered in the church, which brings 
A living fat for wily ministers, 

xls long as folks will wear their leading-strings; 
But when the blood of independence stirs [ers. 
Men's heai-ts, they'll cease to bow as idol-worship- 

So long as thoughtless men deceive their souls 
With vague conjectures that a wordy prayer 

Their destiny beyond the graveyard moulds, 
When breathed aloud into the empty air, 
To some unknoAvn mysterious being there, 

Their conduct will be inconsistent, mad; 

Reason and common sense will have no share 

In guiding them to action, and the sad 

Results will only to the w^orld's confusion add. 

How- very low and groveling is this, 

And reeking with the very fumes of hell ! 
As if mankind could win immortal bliss 

By idle words and forms, in wiiich can dwell 

No kind of virtue, no exalting spell ! 
Let men but reason and they must behold 

That righteous living here alone can tell 
In raising human destiny. The bold 
In thought and action the most rapidly unfold. 



36 . THE CROSS AND CROWN. 



But some day men will learn that law sui^reme. 

Unchanging and unerring, rules us all ; 
That there is neither low nor high extreme 

Where special favoi-s unto men may fall, 

Or privilege be granted at the call 
Of homage-giving beings who desire 

To gain advantage, be it great or small ; 
That selfishness can never raise men higher, 
And only deeds of good can aid those who aspire. 

Throw creeds and books and churches to the winds, 
Save as they furnish food for human thought; 

Shun ever}' subtle manacle that binds 
The human reason — 'tis with evil fraught ; / 
Bow not to books, nor saviors, noi' aught C© 

But Truth and Justice and the love'm Good ; 
With these alone can be salvation bought; 

It was for these the Nazarene once stood — 

In these must every soul tind its redemption food. 

Let men have faith in principle, and strive 
To live in strict accord with equity; 

When at the tloor of truth they always knock, 
And deal no more in foolish mystery, 
But trim the lamp of reason so they see 

The right from wM'ong, and act the nobler part. 
Then will the human race be truly free; 

Then the millennium will surely start 

With the millenuinl conditions in the heart. 



IDOLATRY. 37 

Tis not by exaltation of one's self 

Tlie prize of real happiness is won; 
'Tis not by hoarding piles of worldly pelf 

That we can win the plaudit of "well done;" 

'Tis not by self abasement we can shun 
Tlie painful consequence of evil ways; 

'Tis not by wordy prayer to God or Son 
We can prolong the measure of our days; 
But living right, with duty done, forever pays. 

Then break your idols, oh ! ye men of might, 
If ye would number with the truly strong; 

Sti'ike 3'e for Justice, Freedom and the Right, 
If ye would join the ever-happy throng 
That sing in unison redemption's song; 

Fling out the banner of the Brotherhood, 
Bear it before you as ye march along; 

Plant it where every idol erst has stood. 

Proclaim to all mankind the Universal Good. 

If you would follow Christ, or be like God, 
You must, like them, be ever doing good ; 

You must arise above the. brutal clod ; 
You must stand out, as Jesus Christ once stood, 
The sturdy friend of God's great multitude — 

That helpless mass of wronged and suffering poor, 
Who now are trampled on bj^ ^Mammon's brood ; 

You must hold up to scorn the evil-doer, 

Put down the foul and raise aloft the good and pure. 



THE CROSS AMJ CROWX. 



In no belief or unbelief, nor prayer. 

Can men redemption from their onois find; 
No worship of the thinus of earth or air. 

Or lipaveii or lidl, or of the human initul. 

Can from a simile fetter e'er unbind 
One sinning: brother. Only deeds alone 

Done in the love of what is irood and kind. 
Can for the smallest iiumaii wronir atone; 
Then worsliij) not at all, ])Ut see that irood is done. 

Worship is mockery, but only cheats 

The worshiper, who fancies he can iruide 

Tlie forces of the universe, and beats 

The air with emjity words; and, worse beside, 
It dulls man's intellect and leads him wide 

Astra}' from the true ])ath of duty here; 

It seeks for ends throuirh settinir laws aside, 

When all must be fultilled. Hence it is (dear 

The worshii)er. through i»rayer, seeketh to rule 

(tliis sphere. 

No jot nor tilth' will the law abate 

Till all shall be fulfilled ; nor caji man make 

One hair or black or white, howe'er he prate; 
Nor add unto his stature, thou-^Hj he take 
No end of thouirht and jirayer, nor caji he <hake 

The pur]ioses of any hii,dier power; 

But if he could, there wouW be cause to quake — 

For all would come to chaos in an hour [devour. 

And death and darkness quickly all things would 



IDOLATRY. 



Then be ye not idolatrous, nor bow- 
In worsliij) unto things unseen or seen, 

But bide your lot with clear, unclouded brow, [been ; 
And child-like trust the powers that e'er have 
They're watching o'er us all with vision keen 

And love unquenchable forevermore ; 

In turn, they ask our love, our faith serene, 

And wait to welcome us, when earth is o'er, 

To homes of peace and bliss on Heaven's eternal 

[shore. 



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